Recently after hearing a teaching about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, I heard our pastor say something that clarified a very difficult concept....at least it was difficult to explain.
He used the term "with" to describe why the father of the "prodigal son" in Luke 15 (New Testament of the Holy Bible) was so excited that his son had returned from. When the prodigal was away spending the money on self-destruction, he was "away"; but now that he'd returned home, he was "with" his father.
I don't believe Luke was writing only about the proximity of being "with" each other. The son's return was actually preceded by repentance. He "came to his senses" in the employment of a pig farmer. The son became so hungry that he'd decided that eating pig food was better than starving. This young man was truly at the lowest point of his life, and the prospects didn't look good for improvement in his circumstances. Then he got it...all of a sudden.
He realized he could go home and offer to be a servant in his father's house knowing that the servants back home had better food, more food, better living conditions, and a secure position. His heart changed from being brutal and uncaring to humble and self-aware.
When the son came home, he came home to be a slave who was "around" his father's house, but the father gave him back his status as "son" and accepted him back into his heart as a loved one. His dad wanted him to be "with" him as a son not just "around" him as a slave.
This is the clarity that came to me. Jesus said blessed are those "who mourn for they shall be comforted". Over the years I have developed several explanations of "comfort". The best I could offer - prior to hearing the message on the prodigal son - was that when any person comes into the presence of God, get's still enough and quiet enough to know that God is present and that His Holy Spirit (called the Comforter) comes alongside us, we know the comfort of God.
Here is my new explanation: Comfort is being "with" God or a person He sends to be "with" us. Being with God or caring others helps to remove aloneness, pain, sorrow, guilt, or despair. Aloneness is feeling that we are on our own, unknown, or isolated. Comfort is knowing care from one who is "with" not simply around us.
Our difficult life events, disappointing interaction with family or friends, or disillusionment from irrelevant religions can leave us feeling very alone and disconnected. When God comes near and we know we are "with" Him, then we are no longer alone and His being "with" us comforts us. His presence and the love He communicates bring comfort because we know we are "with" not "without". We may be "without" the person who left, died, hurt us, or was hurt by us. We may be "without" and feel alone in the pain of life events: illness, financial hardships, job loss, etc; but when we reconnect with Jesus and/or one of His emissaries we are "with" not "without".
I want to remember that when I feel "without" that I am never really "without", because He, Jesus, is "with" me. In fact, God lives in me by His Holy Spirit. It is true. The beauty of human relationships, when done well, is that being "with" another person where love connects our hearts is a picture of Christ's love for us. As marriage is designated as the best picture of that relationship between Christ and His church, then you can see why we are grateful to be called into helping "leaders live loved and give love freely...starting at home".
Knowing that God is "with" us and that Jesus, called Emmanuel, is "God with us". The Holy Spirit of God lives in the temple called the body. Simply put, as a follower of Jesus, God is "with" me and promises to never leave or forsake me. He comforts me when I mourn as father did the prodigal son. He went home to be around his dad, but the father welcomed him home and invited the young man to be "with" the family again. He was lost and dead to the father, but after his "pig feeding" experience, he came home to be found and alive. "With" feels much better than "without". God said "it is not good that the man should be alone", and created others so we could be "with" them and "with" Him.
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